Acs Catalysis, 16 December, 2021, DOI：https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.1c04293

Self-Assembled Enzymatic Nanowires with a “Dry and Wet” Interface Improve the Catalytic Performance of Januvia Transaminase in Organic Solvents

Cuihua Wei, Juan Zhou, Tiangang Liu, Wanqi Zhao, Xian-En Zhang*, and Dong Men*

Abstract

The use of organic solvents in enzymatic reactions is advantageous for industrial bioprocesses. However, enzymes tend to denature in organic solvents. To solve this problem, a self-assembled enzymatic nanowire with a unique “dry and wet” (hydrophobic and hydrophilic) interface was developed in this study. This interface not only enriched hydrophobic substrates but also retained enzyme stability. As a proof-of-concept, Januvia transaminase (JTA) was genetically fused with the self-assembly domain of amyloid protein Sup35 to construct JTA nanowire (JTAnw). The catalytic activity of JTAnw (33.610 ± 2.406) × 10^–3 s^–1 was higher than that of free JTA (7.088 ± 0.351) × 10^–3 s^–1, while the time required for 90% conversion was reduced from 24 h for free JTA to less than 4.5 h for JTAnw. JTAnw also showed better thermal stability, pH stability, and organic solvent adaptability than free JTA. This self-assembly strategy provides a convenient approach to improve the enzymatic performance in organic solvents.

Article link：https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscatal.1c04293